Chapter 220: A flood of bad reviews?

Empty stomach.

The flower pots on the balcony are empty.

The above refers to Gu Lu returning home without eating.

Every time he didn't eat in the school cafeteria, he felt like he had lost hundreds of millions.

Of course, eating cafeteria food often would be a bit boring, so Gu Lu prepared some special dishes for himself.

I opened my mailbox and received an email from the publishing house, which was the weekly sales report.

The sales of The Little Prince are quite strong. In January and February this year, there were still tens of thousands of sales. In March, when Gu Lu's promotional video was released at its highest profile, the sales doubled.

The copyright has not yet been developed, but Gu Lu feels that he can live off this book for the rest of his life.

“There are a lot of negative reviews on the Internet.” Gu Lu logged into his Weibo account. Because he would frequently search the Internet for himself, he would also receive relevant updates.

Many marketing accounts and big Vs quoted Yu Xinyao’s comments.

Gu Lu had no dissatisfaction with the literary critic Yu Xinyao. He had to stand at attention when being criticized and agree when making mistakes.

But the media that just follow the trend without even reading the article is particularly annoying.

The Paper: [The opening of the book with a letter reminded me of Gu Lu's message at the beginning of The Little Prince. Many readers, including me, thought it was the second Little Prince. But after reading the entire book of nine chapters and 16 words, I found a boring and uneventful campus life. Gu Lu seemed to want to write an autobiography, but the content without ups and downs made people sleepy. Is The Little Prince an unexpected work? Or has Gu Lu run out of ideas?]
This one is slightly better because it looks like the content has been read.

Reader: [Too many subplots, childish language, the novel is too similar to real campus life, and the main plot of "Scream" is too stiff. There is no doubt that Gu Lu is a pseudo-genius pushed by the publishing house. @齱輪大王_From "Hyouka", it can be seen that he is not capable of writing a long story in an interesting way.]
A Publishing Editor: [@咕噜大王_Does Gu Lu really have the ability to write a novel? The Little Prince was well received, but the entire book is only a few tens of thousands of words, which is at most a novella, and his first attempt to write a novel ended in failure. Hyouka answered this question. Gu Lu does not have the ability to write a novel, and can only write short stories at best.]
What does it mean to take things out of context?

The two online book reviewers, Reading People and A Publishing Editor, or more accurately, people working in the publishing industry, really know how to do it.

First of all, there is no difference in technical difficulty between writing a good short story and writing a good novel, but an editor speaks as if writing short stories is inferior.

Secondly, and most importantly, "Mr. Holmes" is also a complete novel with good reputation and sales, but the two of them - oh no, most of the people who gave bad reviews chose to ignore it.

Because of these comments, there are messages below: "What a pity, such a good writer in the making", "I think so too, he is not even an adult yet, if he doesn't study, what can he write?", "Was The Little Prince written for children? He was a child himself so he wrote well, but now he wants to write for adults, so of course it won't work"...

The silent majority. Gu Lu took a deep breath. If he hadn't seen the sales report every week, he would have thought he was really finished.

"Hyouka" is not a completely bad book, but it is half and half. After all, it is a refreshing novel in a sea of youth literature, so it is normal that some people like it.

When Gu Lu was thinking about whether to open a small account, he received a phone call.

The caller is President Jian.

"Xiao Gu, Bing Guo is a very good youth campus novel."

"It is really excellent. This year, it should be able to win the top ten campus books in the four-nine cities." "Both word-of-mouth and sales are beyond our expectations."

After the call was connected, Gu Lu didn't say anything yet, but the person on the other end of the phone started praising him. There was no doubt that Gu Lu was a little dazed by the praise.

But he was able to remain calm because he knew President Jian's speaking habits, because President Jian always mixed praise with criticism.

After waiting for a long time, there was no criticism from President Jian, but instead there was self-reflection.

"So, Xiao Gu, I won't rush you about writing in the future. Just write whatever you want." President Jian continued on the phone, "We shouldn't be in a hurry. The more important something is to you, the more you want to grasp it, but correspondingly, the more difficult it is to grasp it!"

【Twenty million sales in two years】【Fable】【Surprisingly mediocre】

Huh? Gu Lu was a little surprised, but it was not a sudden surprise, because this synthesis list was elusive, and he was used to it appearing at any time.

The key is what is shockingly mediocre? Running 20 million in two years in a mediocre state, this kind of mediocrity Gu Lu wants too much!
"I understand, Uncle Jian." Gu Lu paused to think for a moment, and roughly understood what the other party wanted to express. "Writing "Hyouka" has nothing to do with Uncle Jian's urging. I just happened to want to write it."

President Jian on the other end of the phone didn't believe it and thought Gu Lu was comforting him.

Seeing that the other party didn't believe him, Gu Lu thought of something, "In about two weeks, I will give Uncle Jian a surprise, and then you will know."

In about two weeks, the review of "People's Literature" will be completed, and it will be published in the most prestigious literary magazine in the country, which is enough to prove that the level has not dropped at all.

"Two weeks?" President Jian was startled. "Xiao Gu, are you trying to say that you have finished writing your previous science fiction novel? Take your time and don't be in a hurry."

"Uh..." Gu Lu remembered the "Flowers for Algernon" which he had put aside after writing two-thirds of it.

"Uncle Jian, don't worry, this is not a novel." Gu Lu said, "It's something else."

Even though Gu Lu saw the pessimism on the Internet and really wanted to release this sci-fi masterpiece as soon as possible, he still had to abide by the basic laws after the book was published.

The two chatted for a while, mainly because President Jian urged them to accumulate knowledge and read more books.

After hanging up the phone, Gu Lu glanced at the books on the bookshelf. There were about a hundred books, not many at all, but he could guarantee that he had read most of them and taken notes.

After watching "Ordinary World" for a while and making arrangements, Gu Lu studied the label he had just triggered.

"Fable? What's the difference between a fable and a fairy tale?" Gu Lu searched on Baidu.

Baidu gave the answer that fairy tales should have better characters and plots, and be both entertaining and educational. But fables are educational, and some are even too straightforward, resulting in low readability and low interest.

It's a fable, so it's not interesting enough and it's very mediocre. It seems that if you put it this way, the label is reasonable.

"What kind of work could it be?" In his previous life, Gu Lu mainly read books for the interesting ones, so he couldn't think of such a work that was not very interesting for a moment.

He opened his email again. He had only read it for a short while, but Gu Lu couldn't help but take another look. People's Literature's review process is so slow!
(End of this chapter)

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